An electronic device may be provided with various different functions, such as a display, camera means, speaker means, and so on. The operation of an electronic device may be controlled by means of an appropriate user interface, such as control buttons, voice commands, touch sensitive display and so on. Furthermore, an electronic device may be provided with a processor entity and a memory means. Such electronic devices may comprise mobile communication devices or user terminals, such as user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) and so on, or other electronic devices, such as a laptop computer, a digital camera or a portable television.
A portable or mobile electronic device may consist of two or more different parts, which may be folded or slid next to or on each other. A possible design may have a first part, such as an engine part, and a second part, such as a display part, fixed together, but allowing a defined linear movement between the first and the second part. This design may be useful in various electronic devices, such as in portable phones. A slide construction may allow manufacturing small products. Some parts, such as control buttons or display, may be protected inside the device in a closed position. The slide construction should be able to provide linear movement when the device is opened. At the same time, mechanical strength should be maintained in both an open and closed position so as to avoid damage if, for example, accidentally dropped. Furthermore, the slide constructions should allow signal and power transfer between the different parts.
In currently proposed designs, slide rails on confronting surfaces of the different parts of the device may be used. In order to maintain a sufficient rigidity between the two or more parts of the device, the rails may extend along the length of the major parts of the device. The rails are hidden when the device is in a closed position and visible when the device is slid open. In such arrangements, a maximum overlap of the rails thus occurs when the device is closed and a minimum overlap occurs when the product is open. Spring mechanisms, such as torsion springs, providing bistable function keeping the device in the open or in the closed position may also be used. Bistable function may improve user experience compared to motion where a user feels a clear friction when opening or closing the device.
However, there is a need for providing new mechanisms for providing slide construction for electronic devices. It may be desired to take into account both a mechanical resistance as well as an appearance of the device.